To Commemorate the 30th Anniversary
of
The
Americans with Disabilities Act
July 26, 2020
Gathering Litany
Lord, as we gather in your
word today, we join with your first followers—with paralytics, epileptics, the
mentally ill—and commend to your care those who are sick and have various
diseases.
You give the blind your vision to see.
You give the mute your voice to speak.
You speak in ways the deaf can hear.
You recognize
the poor, the meek.
We, your disciples,
repeatedly neglect children with disabilities even as their parents bring them
for you to touch and bless. Help us remember You are always inviting them,
recognizing their value, saying “Let the children come to me.”
You give the blind your vision to see.
You give the mute your voice to speak.
You speak in ways the deaf can hear.
You recognize
the poor, the meek.
When we chain the developmentally
disabled and mentally ill amid the caves and tombs, You sit with them, listen
to them, touch them, give wholeness,
give a way to walk in your ways, and send them back into the world, to their
home, to tell everyone what they have heard and seen.
You give the blind your vision to see.
You give the mute your voice to speak.
You speak in ways the deaf can hear.
You recognize
the poor, the meek.
When people wonder whether
You are the promised one, You tell them to report what is begun: The unclean
are cleansed. The lame are given ways to walk. The blind receive your vision,
and the poor hear good news proclaimed. Indeed, the dead are raised!
You give the blind your vision to see.
You give the mute your voice to speak.
You speak in ways the deaf can hear.
You recognize
the poor, the meek.
We recognize that all
policies of discrimination hide the needs of the disabled from us and
contribute to them being ignored which creates a stigma of social death. We
admit our care for people with disabilities is incomplete. The only jobs
offered them are often demeaning and meaningless. We pay people with
disabilities less than minimum wage and gain tax incentives from their labor,
or we leave them underemployed and impoverished, without adequate healthcare
protection, other essential services, and the ability to lead independent
lives.
You give the blind your vision to see.
You give the mute your voice to speak.
You speak in ways the deaf can hear.
You recognize the
poor, the meek.
Disabilities are often
shame-filled epithets, uncaring and abusive: He is blind to others’ needs. She
is deaf to the cries of the people. Their reasoning is lame. His actions are
dumb. Their plans are short-sighted. She’s just such a spaz, and more. Forgive
us, Lord, for these and other unthinking utterances of dishonoring shame. Help
us to lift these conditions of life from the trash heap of dishonor. Then help
us to see others as your children, not their disability.
You give the blind your vision to see.
You give the mute your voice to speak.
You speak in ways the deaf can hear.
You recognize
the poor, the meek.
Today, on this thirtieth
anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we remember that we are not
whole without all your children with us. In You, we individually are members
one of another and that the gifts of all are needed if the Body of Christ is to
be whole. We commit ourselves to learn more about the issues surrounding
disabilities; to work for equity in employment and all aspects of life; to learn the many gifts that people with
disabilities have and long to share, that we might know the wholeness of Your
beloved community with all the saints, to be your body for the sake of the
world.
As we gather in these days
And walk in your new ways,
It is your name we praise
Reaching out,
the dead to raise. Amen
